CMS with static pages

[nmjudy]

I have a 20,000+ page static site that I'd like to convert to be database driven so I may separate content from design. I have started several Wordpress sites over the years. Played with various themes. Modified themes and added plugins to do what I needed. Then BAM - Wordpress comes out with a new update and plugins break and things are a mess. Updates are usually required to keep things secure. Everytime I take 5 steps forward -when this happens, I take 10 steps back.

I was thinking that it might be easier to develop a CMS offline, generate static pages, upload a .gz file and unzip. That way a database could never be compromised. I wouldn't have to worry about server load building pages on the fly and won't have to worry about php injections or other creepy hacker stuff.

How come no one has ever developed such an animal? Or have they?

[creeking]

this might be too simple for your large site, but there is blog software that does not use a database. flatpress is the one I am thinking of; I think it makes static pages.

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Moderator Note:
Warning: if you do a Google search on "flatpress" it currently carries a note saying "This site may be hacked."

[edited by: ergophobe at 5:05 pm (utc) on Nov 4, 2013]
[edit reason] add warning [/edit]

[ergophobe]

You might find this discussion helpful:
CMS for Offline, Cross-Platform Development with Static Output
[webmasterworld.com...]

[explorador]

x2 to that. That discussion has some good information and I understand your concern. I worked with an offline CMS in the past (written by me, it's dead now) and sure sometimes I miss some benefits, but yes there are ways on creating static html pages to upload them later.

[timchuma]

I once had a MS Access database I used to store web pages and the templates in for a website and could "auto generate" the pages at the press of a button.

There are some CMS that allow automation for migrating websites, but it is an advanced topic and you need a specialist in that product and scripting to do so.

[4serendipity]

One thing I always liked about Movabletype is that it output static html.